Managing your Soil Resource [2 days]

• Introduction on how to plan the development of a healthy farming system.
• Identify the ABC of your soil, how it is made up and how it can be managed.
• Balance soil fertility and manipulation of soil pH for optimum plant growth.
• Introduction to the Albrecht soil balance method and its potential limitations & benefits.

• Development of a Regional soil audit using comprehensive Soil Systems Analysis.
• Optimising corrective fertiliser treatments and changing nutrient availability.
• Relating plant and animal health to the interpretation of soil audits and QA.
• Developing a management plan for a quality assurance program of your soil.

• Introduction to SoilCARE: Conservation, Aggregation, Regeneration & Energisation.
• Understand the principles of regenerating your soils’ health and productivity.
• How to use triggering mechanisms for "Building Topsoil."
• Explore ways of increasing soil health and vitality without adding fertilisers.

• Introduction to the 5 and 10 Principles of AgriNutrition.
• The interdependence between Soil, Plant and Animal Nutrition.
• Problem solving nutritional limitations through AgDiagnostics.
• Healthy nutrition to improve and correct pests, weeds and diseases.

• Management principles of sustainable farming systems.
• Systems Thinking to developing Sustainable Agriculture.
• Four Case Studies of Sustainable Production Systems [B-D, Org, Bio & PC].
• Three steps to sustainable production through transitional pathway program

Healthy Farming Systems ten day course is about creating healthy living cells that make the plants we produce (pasture, crops, horticulture, trees, etc) or the animals we raise. Common sense tells us that it is cheaper and easier to raise a healthy plant or animal than to raise a sick plant(s) or animal(s).

The course is split into five - two day units that will give you some of the key foundational principals to developing an healthy farming system by taking everything back to the basics by starting to learn how to improve the health of your soil and how to regenerate one of the worlds most valuable resource - the topsoil. You will also learn how to identify what is cause many of your underlying production [plant / animal] based problems. This takes a lot of the guess work out of decision making.. The course puts into perspective need to treat the problem, not the just manage symptoms and introduces practical ways to overcoming many of your production based problems. By gaining a better understanding to what has been causing below optimum productivity and disease etc.. The need for costly high inputs can be reduced and your farm can be more sustainable.

A healthy farming system does not need the constant intervention with "bandaid" inputs of work drenches, herbicide, fungicides, (vaccinations), "dry cow" etc. The use of many chemicals assist farmers in managing recurring symptoms (disease, weeds, pests) but not solving the underlying problems. If excess chemical inputs are reduced and good husbandry practices (ie Landcare) are used a farmer is well on the road to a more sustainable form of farming and (potential) organic certification of the farm and its saleable products.

Remember, good biological / organic farmers don’t use chemicals because they have removed the need to use them. In effect, they have learnt how to solve their problems and removed the symptoms of a sick farming system (ie weeds, disease, high culling rate, low fertility etc). When this is achieved they can focus on building the immune systems of their plants and animals to keep them healthy and profitable. If you want to learn the practical methods of developing a healthy farming system and improving the sustainability of your farm, please take the opportunity to join a course in your area.

Healthy Soils: The First Four Days
The foundation to healthy farming systems is a healthy soil, and the first four days [which can be taken separately] introduces the skills and knowledge in managing your soil resource including quality assurance of your soil to ensure optimum soil fertility and environmentally responsible practices.

Managing your Soil Resource Workshop [The first two days]
Expected benefits
This unit provides the knowledge, skills and attitude to plan and develop sustainable management strategies to manage the soil resource, which is divided into three interrelated subjects: biology, physics and chemistry. Particular emphasis is placed on soil chemistry through interpreting it using the Albrecht cation balance model to improve the soil resource by investigating sustainable management strategies to stimulate soil biodiversity, correct soil pH, reduce salinity and increase soil fertility and productivity.

Outline of the course
To achieve the desired outcomes for the first two days, participants commence by learning about the soil as a resource which is divided into three interrelated subjects: ABC [physical, biological and chemical] and how their current and future management decisions affect each component. To gain "hands on" experience about the soil as a valuable resource, participants take soil samples from their own properties and these are inspected for their physical, biological and chemical properties. Participants are also introduced to the Albrecht Model which is a different approach to traditionally managing the chemical resource of the soil, as it assumes that the soil is a living resource and that the manipulation of the chemical component of the soil will affect the relationship of the biological and physical parts of the soil. The potential limitation and benefits of introducing the Albrecht model as a management tool is also discussed within financial, environmental, resource management and sustainability issues.

For further information helps contact us on courses@healthyag.com

Managing Soil Q.A. to achieve Sustainable Agronomy Workshop [Second two day option]
Expected benefits
This unit provides the knowledge, skills and attitude to plan and develop strategies to manage a soil quality assurance program through comparing soil audits and inventory results to the "Albrecht" international benchmark model. Corrective treatments are developed to achieve sustainable agronomy and optimum plant performance.

Outline of the course
To achieve the above desired outcomes participants commence within a group situation jointly investigating all the soil audit results that were taken, so that a regional picture can be developed. Thus the regional soil audit [40 -60 results] allows local farmers to interpret the region’s soil biology and chemistry and identify any common patterns that are occurring in their land management systems. The Regional Soil Audit acts as a shared resource and gives the big picture of what is happening and will assist in performance benchmarking. This has the potential to reduce individual farmers’ concerns about "their" property’s potential limitation. The regions’ soil audits and individual farmers’ soil audits are compared and related to the Albrecht International benchmark for sustainable agronomy. Individual privacy of participants’ results are maintained by the use of coding soil audits. Strategies are discussed within a group situation how to best make cost effective corrective treatments to comply with the Albrecht model. The auditing of the soil and gaining an inventory report is a significant step in developing an ongoing quality assurance program of continues improvement for participants’ soils and land management systems.

For further information helps contact us on courses@healthyag.com

SoilCARE: Managing Soil For Australia’s Farming Future Workshop
Expected benefits This unit provides the knowledge, skills and attitude to plan and environmentally responsible manage strategies to conserve and increase the current capacity of the soil resource through identifying and addressing four key strategies and development of specific management tools [described as triggering mechanisms] that are capable of optimise soil health, building topsoil and sustainable soil productivity.

Outline of the course
This unit aims to improve the environmentally responsible management practices toward one of Australia’s most valuable [and yet neglected] resource - the soil. Participants are introduced to four key strategies that can progressively increase the capacity of the soil as a living resource by conserving the soil resource, aggregating the soil resource, regenerating the soil resource and finally energising the soil resource. Participants are progressively taken through each of these strategies and a paddock walk to gain hands-on experience is also included. Having considered the four strategies participants are introduced to the use of specific management tools [described as triggering mechanisms] and in small group discussion participants are encouraged to identify and prioritise what they consider to be the most important "triggering mechanisms" for their region and their operation and resources.

For further information helps contact us on courses@healthyag.com

Managing Healthy Nutrition on your Farm
Expected benefits
This unit provides the knowledge, skills and attitude to plan and manage strategies to enhance farm productivity and reduce input costs through a sequential planned decision making process that up skills participants problem solving abilities in the inter-dependent topics of soil, plant and animal nutrition and resource management.

Outline of the course This unit aims to improve the profitability of the farming systems by introducing practical management strategies in a step by step approach to up skill participants’ management of soil, plant and animal nutrition and resources as one inter-dependent topic as they co exist in the agricultural system. Participants are introduced to the concept that cells form the "living units" of agricultural production systems and these cells are very similar. To maintain the health and productivity of cells that form soil microbes, plant and animal tissue, the optimum nutritional balance is needed. Participants are introduced to the management laws of nutrition [Law of Minimum, Maximum and Diminishing Return]. Participants are also introduced to the 5 Principles of AgriNutrition, which are expanded to the 10 Principles of AgDiagnostics that incorporate a problem solving process. Through this process participants learn how to identify what is causing many of their underlying production [plant / animal] based problems - poor nutrition management, taking a lot of the guess work out of decision making. The unit puts into perspective the need to proactively treat problems, not just manage symptoms.

Participants will be introduced to case studies where a balanced approach to agricultural nutrition has reduced pests, weeds and disease. The development of sustainable management strategies can reduce costly inputs and up skill participants to achieve more environmentally responsible management practices by gaining new skills to creating balanced soil, plant and animal nutrition.

For further information helps contact us on courses@healthyag.com

Managing Sustainable Production Systems
Expected benefits
This unit provides the knowledge, skills and attitude to manage the planned progression to develop sustainable production systems, through up skilling current management practices and strategies. Participants will be introduced to viable alternative sustainable production systems from which selecting management tools and desirable attributes can be incorporated into existing farm systems.

Outline of the course
This unit aims to improve the sustainability of current agricultural production systems by identifying and comparing current production management models with more sustainable alternative management systems i.e Organic, Biodynamic and Biological. Participants are introduced to the principles of sustainable agriculture and Systems Thinking, which together allow participants to refocus their current management practices and redefine their risk management strategies within longer time frames to achieve continued improvement. Participants identify a minimum of three established sustainable production systems and compare them to their own current production systems. This allows participants to view their current management practice through a potentially more sustainable and yet very practical manner. In small groups participants identify and prioritise what they consider to be the most important management tools of each system and select desirable attributes that can be incorporated into existing farm systems to improve their management principles of sustainable farming systems. Participants are introduced to the MINBIEN [mineral, biological and energy] management framework which is a three step transitional pathway program to sustainable production. In small groups participants identify where they currently fit into the MINBIEN management framework. Participants then reassess their pre-selected management tools and prioritise what could best be utilised in their farm resource.

For further information helps contact us on courses@healthyag.com